Poland and coal

The Polish coal and associated power generation industry are in the process of a major restructuring. While Poland has been a major coal producer and exporter, in the last twenty years production has been cut back dramatically and government plans are for continued decline as subsidies are removed. Coal exports are expected to decline and production switch to focus on domestic coal-fired power generation. The power generation sector is in the midst of a shake-up too with the prospect of old plant being retired and new private power generation proposals being mooted by major global energy companies.

Overview
In 2004 coal-fired power generation accounted for approximately 92% of Poland's 34.6 GW electricity generation capacity, almost entirely from domestic coal. While gas accounts for only 2.2% of electricity generation, its share is growing as overall consumption increases.

In 2005 Poland mined approximately 159 million tonnes of coal according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Of this, just over 61 million tonnes was brown coal and lignite and the remainder bituminous coal. In 2004 approximately 58.7% of the country's installed generation capacity was publicly-owned power stations burning hard coal while a further 25.4% operated on lignite.

The U.S. Geological Survey reports that "in 2005, bituminous coal production declined by more than 3% compared with that of 2004. In 2005, the countrys net exports of bituminous coal and anthracite were about 1.7% less than in 2004. Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Finland were (in order of value) the major importers of Polish coal. The upper Silesian, the lower Silesian, and the Lublin Basins have exploitable resources that amounted to 43,32 Mt of coal in 32 deposits. the upper Silesian Basin represented the major portion of the countrys total reserves, hosting about 79% of the total in 110 deposits."

While the Polish coal industry remains a substantial producer, the industry has undergone a dramatic restructuring with production falling by approximately one third between 1988 and 1998. The Austrian Energy Agency notes that Poland's Guidelines for Energy Policy of Poland until 2020 state that hard coal production will decline to 80 million tonnes by 2020 and none will be exported.

The future of the domestic coal mining industry is therefore tied to the power generation industry, which itself is in the midst of a major shake-up. The Austrian Energy Council points out that the existing generation capacity is aging which it states "is becoming an increasingly serious problem".

"More than half of the current capacity was built in the 1970s. Approximately 60% of the system is more than 15 years old, and 40% is more than 20 years old. More than 1.5 GWe has been in operation for more than 30 years. This problem has been exacerbated by insufficient expenditure on maintenance and modernization projects. PSE has estimated that by 2005, over 20 GWe of capacity will need rehabilitation while almost 3 GWe will need to be retired. Rehabilitation costs, including environmental protection costs, are estimated between $50 and $350 per kW of capacity. Additionally, there are plans in place to expand the existing transmission and distribution networks. These investments in the electricity industry are estimated to cost around $50 billion over the next 15 years. Much of this cost, though, is proposed to be covered in the process of privatization," the Austrian Energy Council states.

Proposed Coal-Fired Power Stations

 * an unnamed plant near Lublin was announced in June 2010 by Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA, Poland’s largest power utility, and the Polish unit of France’s GDF Suez. Each company will own 50 percent of the coal-fired plant to be built, while the capacity or value for the venture remain unknown.


 * Opole Power Station is proposed by Elektrownia Opole, S.A. to have an installed capacity of 960 megawatts.


 * Belchatow 2 Power Station in Rogowiec is proposed by Alstom for Elektrownia Belchatow to have an installed capacity of 833 megawatts and cost over 900 million euros. It is proposed that the plant will be commissioned in October 2010. Alstom Poland state that in October 2008 the company signed a contract with the Polish utility BOT Elektrownia Belchatow SA to build  what "will be the largest power plant ever built in the country ... The plant would generate 10% less CO2 on a per KWh basis than the typical coal plant in the region." The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which funded the project, states on its website that "the project represents a major step in upgrading existing generating assets in Poland to ensure that they meet EU environmental legislation post 2008, notably requirements of the EU Large Combustion Plant and IPPC directives. The project is also an integral part of Polish governmental energy security program."


 * an unnamed power station has been proposed by GE to have an installed capacity of 900 megawatts at a cost of 787 million euros. The plant would be an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) project.


 * Patnow II Power Station is a 464 megawatt unit proposed by Zespol Elektrowni Patnow-Adamow-Konin, S.A. with a contracted commissioning date of December 31, 2007.


 * Piast Ruch Power Station is a proposal by RWE for a 800 megawatt power station to be built on the Piast Ruch II coal mine in the village of Wola in Silesia. The project will be a joint venture between RWE and Kompania Węglowa, which owns the minesite and will supply the coal. It is proposed that the 1.5 billion euro project be commissioned in 2015. In June 2008 RWE and Kompania Węglowa stated that the project would consume approximately 2.5 million tonnes of locally produced hard coal a year. The joint venturers have flagged that they are aiming to get approvals for the project in 2009-2010.

Coal Mining
The U.S. Geological Survey lists the operating coal mines, as of 1005, in Poland as being :
 * Zaklad Wydobywczo's mine in Lower Silesia which produced 200,000 tonnes capacity of anthracite;


 * A number of mines in Upper Silesia which in total produced 140,000 million tonnes of bituminous coal production capacity. These were:
 * Bytomska Spolka Weglowa S.A. which had 9 mines;
 * Rudzka Spolka Weglowa S.A. which had 6 mines;
 * Gliwicka Spolka Weglowa S.A. which had 7 mines;
 * Katowicki Holding Weglowy S.A. which had 11 mines;
 * Nadwislanska Spolka Weglowa S.A. which had 8 mines;
 * Rybnicka Spolka Weglowa S.A. which had 5 mines;
 * Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa S.A. which had 6 mines;
 * Seven independent mines
 * Walbrzyskie Kopalnie Wegla
 * Kamiennego
 * KWK "Nowa Ruda"
 * KWK "Bogdanka" S. A.


 * A number of mining companies with an annual production capacity of 75 million tonnes of lignite. These include :
 * KWK "Belchatow" Belchatow
 * KWK "Turow" Turow
 * KWK "Konin" Konin
 * KWK "Adamow" Adamow
 * KWK "Sieniawa" Sieniawa

Coal mining project approved
In June 2011, New World Resources (NWR), the biggest Czech coking-coal supplier, said its board of directors gave final approval to extract coal from the Debiensko mine in Poland. NWR expects to begin the project by the end of 2011, and extracting coal by 2017. The company's feasibility study indicated the mine had reserves of about 190 million metric tons, for an average annual production of 2 million tons. Total investment in the mine will reach 411 million euros ($584 million).

Seven-eighths of the mine’s reserves are coking coal and one-eighth is the less profitable thermal coal, the feasibility study shows. NWR has a 50-year mining license, granted in 2008, to extract coal from Debiensko. The company also applied for a license to mine additional coal seams at the site and expects to receive approval for that project by mid-2012, it said.

Coal mine construction stopped
On March 12, 2009, Greenpeace International announced that the construction of a new coal mine in Tomislawice had been halted. Following from a Greenpeace legal challenge in December 2008, a Polish court found possible illegalities in the project's environmental assessment process. Construction has been suspended pending an investigation. The new mine would result in about 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere.

Europe and coal

 * Austria and coal
 * Belgium and coal
 * Bulgaria and coal
 * Europe and coal
 * France and coal
 * Germany and coal
 * Greece and coal
 * Hungary and coal
 * Italy and coal
 * Netherlands and coal
 * Norway and coal
 * Slovakia and coal
 * United Kingdom and coal

Background information

 * International Energy Agency, "Coal in Poland in 2005", International Energy Agency website, accessed July 2008.
 * International Energy Agency, "Poland", International Energy Agency website, accessed July 2008.
 * Walter G. Steblez, "The Mineral Industries of Central Europe: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia", 2005 Minerals Yearbook, U.S. Geological Survey, December 2007.
 * U.S. Geological Survey, Poland 2000-2005
 * European Environment Agency, European Pollutant Emission Register. (This has a list of power stations and their current emissions).